


Cosmic Specks

by laurelofthestory



Category: Puyo Puyo (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Anxiety, During Canon, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Slight spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:01:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28859259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurelofthestory/pseuds/laurelofthestory
Summary: Klug's wildest dreams have come true--he's among thestars.He just wishes it happened under better circumstances, but...really, it could be much worse. [PPT2]
Relationships: Klug/Sig (Puyo Puyo)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Cosmic Specks

**Author's Note:**

> This is partially based on a roleplay that happened between myself and [lognrithm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lognrithm) shortly after the game came out; some of Sig's dialogue belongs to her. 
> 
> This is also set in the larger Puyo canon established by myself and various friends over the course of several months of RP, that I'll hopefully actually sit down and write out at some point. Just know that by now, Klug and Sig are much more aware of the half-soul situation, and have been together for several months. They're still rather understated and awkward about it because they have the combined social and emotional intelligence of a singular peanut, but several of their friends know about it.
> 
> Also "weren't you writing something about Sig's ancestor" [yes I was](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25718842/chapters/62449075) and then my life went to hell and I'm having trouble making words work for it, that's definitely still happening I'm just repeatedly banging my head into a wall.

The interior of the S.S. Tetra is still a scene of absolute chaos, only vaguely controlled by Sasaki’s theatrics. Such is to be expected when at least twenty people with very _intense_ personalities are all stuck on a ship that normally houses six and a half on a journey that’s proving to take more time than any of them care to wait.

Not that many of them are too excited about their eventual destination, of course. The break and chance to unwind are welcome, though the shadow of what lies ahead hangs over them all, uncertainty and close quarters and a rapidly growing sense of cabin fever making for a dreadful combination. Klug had begun to get that awful, dizzy feeling of the walls of the recreational room closing in to trap and crush him, and had to excuse himself from the... _whatever_ was going on at this point.

Luckily, Klug manages to find one of the larger windows on the ship--and the view outside is an easy cure for encroaching claustrophobia.

The moment he catches sight of it, Klug rushes to practically plaster himself against the glasslike material, eyes impossibly wide behind his glasses and mouth hanging open in what quickly turns into an almost _unhinged_ -looking grin. 

Outside the ship, spread across the window before him like a canvas, is the cosmos.

Klug knows they’re probably traveling tremendously fast, and yet the stars outside seem to move only as quickly as clouds on a windy day, only cementing the astronomical distances between them. Debris drifts past, gently pushed aside by the ship’s shielding, and he can only imagine the bits of rock as remnants of planets and asteroids, offshoots of long-dead stars, clusters of elements that have existed since the beginning of the universe. Colorful clouds of gas and dust hang in the far distance, and Klug’s mind races as his imagination fills in the gaps of what lies behind them. 

It’s bright and brilliant and vast, and it’s infinitely better than Klug thought it would be. He’d been so distracted by the chaotic events of the day that he’d almost neglected the fact that a thousand of his wildest dreams had finally come true--he was _in space._

Immediately, all thoughts of walls or blocks or the green sky over Primp are forgotten, replaced by Klug trying to trace new constellations as the stars pass by. He knows they’re so far from home that he couldn’t dream of identifying any star or planet, comet or cloud that he sees, but he doesn’t _care,_ because it’s likely that no other human had ever set eyes on these corners of the universe, and no one will again. His free palm presses hard against the window, and he wants to lean out even further, because it feels like he can almost _touch_ the distant galaxies he’s spent so long studying.

Magic is an odd thing, especially the magic native to his world. He knows it’s silly, but he likes to think that his own base magic comes from the stars. And now, he’s closer to them than he’s ever been.

He isn’t sure how long he stays there coming up with planets and solar systems in his head before he hears heavy footsteps in the hall behind him. Klug reluctantly tears his eyes from the scene to look over his shoulder to find Sig standing nearby, shoulders hunched as if exhausted.

“Oh.” He knows with absolute certainty that Sig had intentionally made his steps loud--he can sneak up on almost anyone in dead silence, and has _appeared_ near Klug several times. The gesture is sweet in how understated it is. Klug squints past Sig in the direction where he can still faintly hear the commotion, as if to make sure no one else is watching. “Shouldn’t you be with the others? In that competition of theirs?”

Sig shrugs. “They’re loud. And I lost ‘teenage heartthrob’ to the twins.”

His tone is so flat that it takes Klug a moment to process the sheer absurdity of what he’s said. When it clicks, Klug lets out a sputtering sound somewhere adjacent to incredulous laughter. “I--what? _How?_ Do you have _any_ idea of your reputation?”

“What reputation?”

“Of course you don’t.” Klug shakes his head, reaching up to try and brush his hair fringe with his fingers. His neatly-combed bangs are far past saving by this point, but he can dream. “You know how the children are fond of inane gossip.”

“...Klug, aren’t _we_ children?”

“Shhhhh- _hhh.”_ Klug narrows his eyes, waving a finger. “That doesn’t matter.”

Sig gives an annoyingly noncommittal wave of the hand, before closing the distance between them and moving to stand at Klug’s right side. Klug carefully watches Sig’s face as Sig takes in the view out the window, but as per usual he’s difficult to read.

It’s some time before Sig deigns to speak, not taking his gaze from outside. “It’s a lot brighter than I thought it’d be.”

Klug can’t help but snort. “Of course it is, Sig. Did you think space was...well, merely _empty space?”_

Sig makes a vague sound of understanding somewhere in his throat, shifting his weight to his heels and swinging his arms slightly at his sides. “Not really. But you can see a lot more than you can, well...um, at home. Lots of different things.” He trails off, tilting his head to one side. There’s a pause that’s almost too long. “...Y’know?”

"I think I know." He pushes his glasses up by the nose and lets his finger stay there. "You can see quite a bit from the ground with the right tools, but...not like this. Nothing like this. I always dreamed of being among the stars, though the circumstances are...less than ideal."

"Yeah, it's kind of a mess. But it's not all bad. You're here _now,_ right? Even if it's bad in one place." Sig's antennae flick a little, and he smiles faintly. "...I don't think the circumstances have to be...ideal. They just have to be. And you can enjoy it anyway. Even if they're not great. It's pretty, either way."

"I suppose," Klug muses. "You're remarkably astute sometimes, you know?" A pause--Sig isn’t great with words, and Klug has to catch himself sometimes. "That is to say, very good at assessing situations and...people."

Sig already had his mouth open to ask, but instead lets out a very soft laugh. "I think I have my moments sometimes."

Not all of the time, of course. Neither of them are good at that sort of thing. But Klug likes to think he has his moments, too, and he can tell something is wrong.

Sig’s body language is too subtle for most people to catch, and sometimes too subtle for Klug even now. But he’s getting better at picking up on it; the way Sig’s shoulders droop and his arms hang limply like they’re filled with string instead of bone, the way his own weight seems to become too heavy and he slouches, the way his eyes fall more closed than usual, staring at nothing, but not in the way he _usually_ stares at nothing.

“...Is something the matter? I mean, other than...all of _this,_ obviously.” Klug makes a vague gesture at the whole of space.

Sig grabs his left arm with his right hand, frowning in a way that barely turns a corner of his mouth. “The twins. They were… _asking.”_

“Ah.”

“I don’t mind when you do it,” Sig quickly reassures him, “but they were pushy. Made me kinda mad.”

“You? _Mad?”_

“Think so? Mad, but…” Sig gestures vaguely to his right. “...over there. You know?”

Klug nods slowly, though he really _doesn’t_ know at all. Sig often describes feeling things in a detached sort of way, as if he were feeling them from a few meters away, and Klug doesn’t quite understand it. It had even made him a bit _jealous,_ at the start--because Klug feels everything, _so_ much, _all the time,_ and it’s enough to paralyze him.

But then again, he’s learned Sig tends to become frozen for the exact _opposite_ reason.

“...Your arm isn’t still bothering you, is it?”

Sig’s hair antennae perk up in acknowledgment, and he shakes his head. "Not since that weirdness, no. I guess it's normal?" He pauses. "For me, anyway. Isn't noisy, just red."

“That’s good…” Klug shifts his weight awkwardly on his feet, reaching out as if he wants to put a hand on Sig’s arm, but thinking better of it. His lips press into a thin line. These things are still hard to say. “I never thanked you for earlier. With Feli, I mean.”

“You don’t have to thank me. I wanted to help.” Sig seems to notice Klug’s movement, and raises his hand slightly. Klug feels the claw’s rough hide brush against his fingers. “So I did.”

“Well, I still owe you a favor if--” Klug clears his throat, looking away. _“When_ we get home.” And all at once, he’s overwhelmed again, and he remembers how big and infinite the cosmos are, and how little he knows about the situation at hand because no one _ever_ tells him _anything_ about these adventures even when he’s _right there,_ and how he isn’t sure what’s happening back home or if there’s even still a home left to go back _to,_ and…

Klug is jostled out of his spiraling thoughts when he feels Sig’s left arm around his back, gently pulling him over to rest his head on Sig’s shoulder. Sig's left side is...sturdy, secure, and somehow the grip doesn’t feel like it’s trapping him. It’s just there.

“When we get home. Mmm. I’ll see if there’s anything I can ask later.”

Klug’s ears heat up, and he glances off to one side as if to check the hallway, though doesn’t dare move his head. The others are probably still distracted by whatever’s going on in the rec room, he reasons, and he lets himself relax a bit, watching the stars go by in silence.

It’s what he needs often, a moment of calm, just a few minutes where he isn’t overthinking little details and criss-crossing connections between bits of information. Aya told him once that it was loud inside his mind, and he can believe it, as much as he hates to admit it. At least Sig makes things quiet again.

Though, his wandering train of thought does remind him of something. “There’s something else I don’t get. About today.”

“Hm?”

“With that 'Marle'. Lemres said something protected us.” Klug squints his eyes half-shut, trying to figure out how to phrase his next words. “What do you think _happened?_ I know why _they’d_ protect _you,_ but I haven't the faintest idea why Aya wouldn't think it was simply the most amusing thing in the world watching me scamper around like a lunatic.”

“What?” There’s a pause as Sig puts the pieces together. “...Oh. Don’t know. Does it matter?”

“Well…”

Sig squeezes him, very slightly. “You think a lot.”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Klug grumbles.

“Hey, you two!~”

Klug squeaks, shooting into an upright position as Sig lets go. He whirls around to find Lemres standing in the door to the hallway, pointing at the two of them with his cane.

“L-Lemres!” How long had he been there? Klug can feel his face turning red. “I--”

Lemres chuckles, cutting off his stammering. “I just wanted to come get you. We’re _alll~most_ at the gateway, and Ex is probably going to want us all in one place.”

“Y-yes, sir!” Klug glances back at Sig, who’s gone back to slouching in an entirely different manner and staring at the wall. Klug winces. Sig’s clearly sulking. Klug only hopes Lemres doesn’t recognize it. “Come along, Sig.”

Klug reaches out and grabs Sig’s wrist, squeezing it in silent apology as he starts tugging Sig behind him back towards the rec room. 

As they pass Lemres, Klug glances up at him, only to find that a shadow has passed over his face. All of a sudden, he looks _exhausted._ Klug slows down. “Are you all right?”

“What?” The bright smile is back as quickly as it had left. “I’m fine! We’ve just got a while to go before this is finished. Take care of each other, okay?~”

Klug nods fervently, then turns to meet Sig’s gaze. Sig doesn’t respond, of course, but there’s a way his eyes get slightly brighter that conveys a smile without so much as a twitch of the lips.

The two of them may be mere specks in an endless cosmos, as the worlds spill into each other. They may not understand everything about the situation, drowned out by those who more readily jump to save the day.

But even in the infinite sea of stars, some planets get lucky enough to orbit each other. Those planets are never alone. And neither are the two of them.


End file.
